In the production of motor vehicle bodies, plates made of hardened steel are frequently used, which must be welded to one another. For this purpose, the plates may be joined using lasers to form tailored welded blanks The hardened steels are used, inter alia, for the purpose of meeting the increasingly strict requirements which have been set for the protection of the vehicle occupants. For this purpose, in the particular countries in which the motor vehicle is to be approved, there are standardized impact tests which a vehicle model must withstand before approval, in order to be approved. In Europe, for example, these are the tests according to Euro-NCAP (European New Car Assessment Program).
However, the goal in vehicle construction is not only to use stronger or harder steels, but rather also to improve their welded bonds, because, as tensile experiments in the laboratory often show, weld seams represent the weakest point in the composite.
If one transfers this finding to vehicle body construction, the goal is to improve the strength of the weld seams in vehicle body parts which are welded to one another.
It is at least one object of one embodiment of the invention to provide a composite made of at least two high-strength steel plates, which are welded to one another, and/or a steel plate blank, whose weld seams have a higher strength. The object of a further embodiment of the invention comprises providing a B-column, whose weld seams have a higher strength. In addition, other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.